


Robes and Glitches

by yastaghr



Series: Scribbling is its own Language - Oneshots [19]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Blood, DestructiveDeath - Freeform, Error Sans - Freeform, Error/Reaper - Freeform, GlitchedDeath - Freeform, Life (Reapertale), M/M, Major Character Injury, Mentioned Reaper/Geno, Reaper Sans - Freeform, Sanscest - Freeform, Swearing, afterdeath, error destroys things, reaper does his job
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-24
Updated: 2019-11-24
Packaged: 2021-02-17 23:29:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21551536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yastaghr/pseuds/yastaghr
Summary: Reaper and Error dance around each other, but are nonetheless drawn in.For @SilverDragonMS because of @SansyFresh 's art drive.
Relationships: Sans/Sans (Undertale)
Series: Scribbling is its own Language - Oneshots [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/667640
Comments: 17
Kudos: 246
Collections: Glitchy Boi is Best Boi





	Robes and Glitches

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SilverDragonMS](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverDragonMS/gifts).



Reaper stepped through the portal into absolute chaos. Dust floated in the wind, attacks littered the snowline, and several trees were on fire. The oddest thing, though, was the gaps. There were these white gaps in the fabric of the universe with raw code unraveling around the edges of them. Reaper had never seen anything like them. That kind of power was terrifying. 

The god froze as a beam of raw magic ripped through the air just behind him. He teleported into the treeline, for once happy that his invisibility kicked in the moment he hit a new world. He couldn’t afford to be seen. Not when someone was wielding that much magic as though it were a children’s toy. He was lucky that blast had missed him. They sure as hell couldn’t see-

“hEy yOu! WeIrDo iN ThE BlAcK RoBe! WhAt tHe fUcK ArE YoU DoInG HeRe?”

Reaper spun around and stopped dead. There, staring right at him, was a black boned skeleton. His hands had red and yellow tints. His eye sockets were red with multicolored eye lights. His teeth were yellow. Error bars and glitches were sprinkled all over his body. But the weirdest thing about him was the expression on his face. He looked like he had seen a ghost, but in the most pissed off way imaginable. Huh.

“yEaH, yOu! ThErE'S No wAy yOu'rE FrOm tHiS UnIvErSe. I AlReAdY KiLlEd tHe sAnS HeRe. So gEt tHe fUcK OuT Or gEt rIpPeD ApArT At tHe sEaMs, I DoN'T CaRe. It's nOt lIkE It mAkEs aNy dIfFeReNcE To mE.”

With that, the strange skeleton opened what Reaper could only describe as a command console. One of his hands went up to the blue lines that poured out of his eye sockets and...pulled them away? The blue lines glittered like starlight on black ice. They moved like living strings and tied themselves on lines of code in the console. Then Error yanked and the code fell apart. 

Reaper barely managed to jump through his portal in time to avoid the white gaps of dying code that were racing towards him. He panted, staring at the space where it had been, and collected himself. Slowly, a wicked grin spread across his face. This was going to be fun.

* * *

The shorter God of Death heaved himself out of his chair and grabbed his scythes. They fit comfortably in his hand. He’d finally started to get used to them. Life would hate to know it, but now he hardly had to think about them in battle. That was helpful on excursions like this. The first few times Reaper hadn’t known what he was going into. Now he could tell the signs easily. He’d get to see his mysterious black skeleton again. He couldn’t wait.

He stepped through the portal into the familiar chaos of Glitchy’s warzone. He dodged bones and lasers that rocketed out of the countryside. There were at least two magic signatures, which meant someone was still alive in this world. Reaper followed the attacks back to the center of Snowdin. He floated in just in time to catch the final rip of blue strings on bone that dusted the local Sans. His ghost hovered for a moment. Reaper shifted his grip on his scythes and sliced into him, sending his soul on to the next world. 

“oKaY, wHaT ThE FuCk? YoU'Re sErIoUsLy aPpRoAcHiNg sTaLkEr sTaTuS, rObEy. AnD WhY ThE HeLl aRe yOu hElPiNg mE?”

Reaper turned with a muffled grin to face Glitchy. The other looked...ragged. One arm was in a makeshift sling. Two fingers on the other hand were tied together. There was a raw scrape on his right cheek and forehead. Reaper’s smile vanished completely. “what happened to you?”

Glitchy’s frown deepened into a scowl. He said stubbornly, “i AsKeD fIrSt.”

Reaper humored him. “it’s my job. i reap the souls of the dead and send them on to the next world. you just usually erase the world before I get a chance.”

The black skeleton looked belligerent. “i hOpE YoU ArEn't tRyInG To sAy i sHoUlDn't dO ThAt, CaUsE ThAt aIn't hApPeNiNg. ThEsE FrEaKiSh gLiTcHeS NeEd tO DiE, aNd nO OnE ElSe iS DoInG A GoOd eNoUgH JoB.”

“i know that. i’m a god. i can see the way the multiverse is getting overcrowded. i really don’t want to find out what happens if we run out of space,” Reaper said with a shudder. It was a popular topic of conversation among the gods. He hated hearing all the theories, because they seemed to only be getting worse.

Glitchy blinked at him, then preened. It made Reaper’s soul glow inside to see the happiness on his face. “wElL Of cOuRsE. i'm gLaD YoU CaN SeE It mY WaY. sOmE PeOpLe,” Glitchy spat, “aRe bEiNg sTuPiDlY DeNsE.”

Reaper narrowed his eye sockets. “is that why you’re so beaten up? because someone’s trying to stop you?”

Instead of answering, Glitchy pulled up his little console. Reaper sighed and opened a portal back to his world. He probably should count himself lucky that Glitchy spoke as much as he did. Next time, he promised himself. Next time.

* * *

Reaper didn’t know what it was about this time that felt different to him. The list was the same, the setup was the same, it was timed perfectly- but his instincts were screaming at him that something was wrong. And his instincts hadn’t betrayed him yet. 

They screamed even louder when Reaper arrived in the dying world to total silence. No blasters, no battle music, no carnage. It wasn’t right. He could feel the magic signatures of two...no, now it was just one monster. It was a very familiar monster, but his magic didn’t feel right. Why in the world would Glitchy be crying for help?

Reaper soon found out. He’d followed the screaming magic all the way into Snowdin. There he found the familiar carnage...sort of. For some reason the whole battlefield was covered in splotches of paint. It wasn’t a part of the AU, no indeed. Not with the paint laying across several burn marks and broken attack bones. Another conundrum to add to Glitchy’s file. That was one more question for Glitchy to constantly dodge. Great. 

He almost missed the black-boned skeleton when he was scanning the town. A groan drew his eyes back to a large patch of paint. If he’d been a human, his face would have blanched. Blood mixed with the blue puddle. Bones were sticking out everywhere, and these weren’t attacks. 

Reaper knelt next to the severely injured glitch he’d come to be fond of. Glitchy’s skull blinked at him, then scowled. At least he was conscious. That was a plus. “oF FuCkInG CoUrSe iT WoUlD Be yOu. WhAt aRe yOu gOiNg tO Do, ReAp mE? hAtE To bReAk iT To yOu, BuT I'M PrEtTy sUrE I CaN'T DiE.”

He ignored the other and started gathering up all the bones into the folds of his robe. That made Glitchy panic. “hEy! WhAt tHe fUcK? i kNeW YoU WeRe a fUcKiNg sTaLkEr, BuT I DiDn't tHiNk yOu'd gO ThIs fAr. I NeEd tHoSe! GiVe tHeM BaCk!”

Reaper sighed and fixed his gaze to Glitchy’s. “you’re too badly hurt to recover on your own. i’m taking you to a healer, and i can only carry so much in my two hands.”

Glitchy rolled his eyes. “yOu'rE StIlL A FuCkInG StAlKeR. i dOn't eVeN KnOw yOuR NaMe.”

“reaper,” he said quietly.

“hUh?”

“my name is reaper,” he repeated slightly more loudly as he stuffed some of Glitchy’s messed up clothes into his inventory.

Silence reigned for a few seconds. Then a muffled voice said, “I’m ErRoR.”

Reaper’s eye sockets widened as he stared at Error. Had...had he actually volunteered information? About himself? Without prompting? He must have hit his skull really hard in the battle. That was the only explanation. “well then, error, i hope you like flowers, cause the best healer i know is obsessed with them.”

Error rolled his eyes. “nOt aNoThEr sWaP AsGoRe. I'D NeVeR HeAr tHe eNd oF It iF I WeNt iNtO HiS TeRrItOrY WiThOuT PeRmIsSiOn aGaIn.”

Reaper grinned at him as he picked up Error’s skull. “good thing it’s not one of them, then. i’m taking you to meet life herself. count yourself lucky, because she is still super picky about who she lets into her garden. sanses are, like, the only ones besides her children.”

The glitch harrumphed. It was cute, he looked so grouchy with his face scrunched up like that. Wait, what? “fInE, tHeN. aT LeAsT I WoN'T HaVe tO DeAl wItH ToO MaNy pEoPlE PoKiNg aNd pRoDdInG Me. I MiGhT NoT Be aS HaPhEpHoBiC As i uSeD To bE, bUt i sTiLl fUcKiNg hAtE AnYoNe tOuChInG Me.”

Reaper paused in front of the portal he had opened to Life’s garden and blinked down at Error. “but you seemed fine with me touching you.”

Error’s skull blushed an interesting yellow color. Yep. Reaper was definitely smitten. Great. Why did it always have to be the dangerous ones? “s-s-sO WhAt? I JuSt eXpEcTeD It fRoM SuCh a fUcKiNg sTaLkEr. ThAt's AlL!”

Reaper hid a grin. Dangerous and a tsundere. Fucking score.


End file.
